


Little Magic

by knifelesbian



Series: Like I Keep Telling You [1]
Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gert and Chase are Oblivious, Hurt/Comfort, karolina and Gert being Besties, set after they run away so don't blame me for inaccuracies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-23 05:32:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13183377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knifelesbian/pseuds/knifelesbian
Summary: Chase gets hurt. the outcome is better than expected.





	Little Magic

The scene keeps replaying in her head.

_The armed robbers, hitting the gas station they'd went to for supplies_

_Chase, brave, stupid Chase, trying to fight them, without weapons, without help_

_Chase getting sent halfway across the store for his efforts, Chase hitting a wall of shelves, knocking everything down_

_Chase not getting up. ___

__Gert and Alex had had to carry him to the car, an arm thrown over each of their shoulders._ _

__She'd sat in the back with his head in her lap, Alex driving, scared out of his mind but trying his best to be reassuring. It wasn't working, and Gert was crying, she didn't know when it had started, but the tears just wouldn't stop, and she kept trying to get him to wake up, but_ nothing _was working-__

__She's got to stop thinking about this. Chase is only in the next room, and he is, for all intents and purposes, fine. He's bruised, and his arm is fucked up, but nothing serious. Except._ _

__Except he still hasn't really_ woken up. ___

__Nico had dragged him out of unconsciousness (alone, they hadn't wanted to overwhelm him) to make sure he didn't have any serious injuries and to give him some painkillers; the four of them watching anxiously through the door the entire time. But when she made him go back to sleep, she warned them: Chase probably wouldn't wake up for a while._ _

__And Gert knew that running away would have it's consequences, the lack of real food and the constant chill in the air at the Hostel being just a few examples. But watching one of her friends get hurt is an increasingly frequent experience that she_ really _doesn't like.__

__She remembers the first time someone got hurt. Herself, Molly, and Karolina had gone to a camping supply store a while away from the Hostel, they hadn't wanted to be tracked back there. They were just about to get in the van, which they'd parked about a mile away from the store, when they'd heard a noise._ _

__A woman yelling, begging, for help._ _

__The three of them had ran towards the sound to find a man holding a woman at knife point. Molly snuck up and jumped him while Gert and Karolina pulled the woman away to safety. It was probably the worst possible plan, but they were all scared and stressed and freaked out. Molly pretty near broke the guy's collarbone, and he ran off, but not before cutting her with his knife, lightning fast._ _

__Moly has a scar, now. Gert still hasn't forgiven herself for it._ _

__She watches the door from where she sits in the common room, somehow expecting Chase to walk in any second now, but of course he doesn't._ _

__"Hey," Karolina puts her hand on Gert's shoulder, squeezing. "You okay?"_ _

__"Yeah," she says, even though she's really not. "I just hate when one of us gets hurt, you know? Just, knowing what our parents did, knowing what we grew up around, it just makes me worry that someone won't," her voice lowers to a whisper, "won't come back." She wants to say something, anything, about how it's even worse because its_ Chase _, and Chase is.......special. But she doesn't, because that's totally not the conversation she wants to have right now.__

__Karolina sits on the arm of her chair and wraps an arm around her shoulders. Gert is so glad they're friends._ _

__"I get it, Gertie," she's still the only one who calls her that, "I really do. It's terrifying to even think about it, and if I know you, every time someone leaves the Hostel you're probably thinking about it, right?" she nods._ _

__"But here's the thing, statistically, something bad isn't going to happen every time someone leaves your line of sight. Just because you can't be there to make sure isn't automatically going to put a friend in danger. And I know you're still going to worry, but try to think about that when you do, okay?"_ _

__Gert nods, wiping away a stray tear. "I don't know when you got so good at this. You didn't_ used _to be a teenage Obi Wan, what happened?"__

__"I accepted myself, learned how to really be me. It took a lot of introspection, I guess? And when you spend so much time in your own head, you occasionally have some wisdom to share."_ _

__"Again, deep as hell." Karolina laughs, and squeezes her again. It's nice._ _

__"Come on, Alex is putting in Revenge Of The Sith."_ _

__"Really?_ that's _the movie he chose? I'm gonna make him put in The Empire Strikes Back, at least that one's_ good _."__

__They make their way to the makeshift TV room they have set up, the cheap projector they'd bought after everyone had gotten too stir crazy to function already set up. She bickers with Alex over the movie, and it doesn't get resolved until Molly grabs The Dark Knight and sticks it in._ _

__The movie is good, but they've all seen it a bajillion times- they only have about eight movies in their possession- so they don't really pay attention. They're all just looking for a distraction, and there's no way they're going back out again, especially not after an altercation. Gert does not want to go to jail, especially for something she didn't even_ do _.__

__Well. They did, technically, sort of, kidnap Molly. But they definitely didn't_ kill _Destiny. Fuck, their parents were awful.__

__Before she heads to what she can only generously call her bedroom, she makes sure to check on Chase. Her calm can only go so far._ _

__She all but tiptoes into his room, making sure not to wake him up. She sits on the side of his bed and inspects him, catalogs every bruise and cut. The robbers had really done a number on him._ _

__She brushes the hair out of his eyes, which, to be fair, is stupid, because he's literally asleep. But it makes her feel better. It's a reassurance that he's here, that he's as safe as he can be right now._ _

__She leans in, presses her lips to his forehead. She'll say until the day she dies that it was just to check his temperature, make sure he doesn't somehow have a fever. But really, she just wants to comfort him. His eyebrows are furrowed together even as he sleeps, but once she pulls back his features relax. He looks peaceful._ _

__~~~~~  
Chase's dreams have always been detailed, but this is a little much even for him._ _

__He's lying in bed, and he's in pain. So, so much pain. He's not sure that part is a dream._ _

__Gert creeps in, even with his eyes mostly shut he can tell it's her. Her hair, for one thing. The longer they've been here the more her roots show, but it's still almost completely purple. The way she walks for another, her confident gait still completely recognizable, no matter how much she tries to stay on her toes. She softly sits on the side of his bed, and he kind of wants to open his eyes all the way, but he can't bring himself to do so. And it's not like it matters, anyways. This is a dream, after all._ _

__She ghosts her fingers against his forehead, fixing his hair. He thinks she might say something, but she stops herself, leaning in and kissing his forehead instead. All the tension bleeds out of him immediately._ _

__It really is a dream, then. Because that's another thing about his dreams._ _

__They are always, always about things he wants._ _

__~~~~~_ _

__The next morning, she goes through her routine. She deflates her mattress, and zips up her sleeping bag. Opens her suitcase, changes, and makes sure everything is in its place. Brushes her teeth with the bowl, bottle of water, and two dollar mirror they each have in their rooms. Pulls a brush through her hair, checks her roots. Damn, they're really starting to show. She's been contemplating lately if they need stuff for haircuts. She'll have to talk to Alex/Nico about it. Probably Nico, though. She cares a lot more about whether she needs a haircut than Alex does._ _

__She throws on an overly large button up before she leaves her room. It might be Chase's or Alex's, she's not sure. They'd gotten into the habit of sharing clothes a week or two after getting to the Hostel. When there isn't much, share everything._ _

__In the common room, only Alex and Molly are up, and Molly just barely, laying on the couch while Alex attempts breakfast on the portable stove. She tries to see if she can help, but notices he's mostly done with the oatmeal, so she sits on the couch and waits for him to pass her a bowl._ _

__"What time is it?" She asks as she takes her first bite. It tastes exactly the same as it has every morning for the past three months, but hey, at least they get a hot meal every day._ _

__"Around tenish. Why? Do we need to have a meeting?" One thing she can't decide if she likes about Alex is that he's almost always on task, no matter what. It's great when they're actually planning something, but at ten in the morning? Nuh-uh._ _

__"Nah, I was just wondering why no one else was up. Has anyone checked on Chase?"_ _

__"Yeah, Molly looked in when she woke up. Still conked out."_ _

__"Oh." She wishes he would just wake up already. It's weird without him, even just for a day._ _

__"Hey, is that my shirt or Chase's?" he asks, taking a bite of his oatmeal._ _

__"You know what, I was just wondering the same thing, and I really can't tell. We should really start labelling things, for efficiency's sake."_ _

__"Oh, that's a good idea, I'll put it in the ImpBook." ah, the ImpBook. Alex's attempt to fill the hole his laptop had left behind when he couldn't bring it- that was the one thing they'd agreed on at first, no tech, it was too easily traceable. The ImpBook has every idea and rule they'd come up with, plus an inventory of their belongings. Alex is never seen more than five feet away from it._ _

__The 'Imp' in ImpBook stands for important. Alex still isn't very creative._ _

__Nico shuffles in then, spooning out some oatmeal and sitting down next to Molly. She'll never say it out loud, but Gert is_ so _glad that Nico and Alex broke up. Once they ran away, they'd get into fights constantly, over plans, over food, over_ anything. _But now that they've broke it off, they haven't yelled at each other in weeks. They both seem a lot happier, too, although now the big thing everyone secretly (and lovingly) complains about is Nico and Karolina sending Pining Looks to each other and batting their eyelashes. Like, just get together already, you know?__

__But_ Gert _is never allowed to say stuff like that, because every time she does Molly and Alex look at her like she's said something absolutely hilarious that they're not allowed to laugh at.__

__Now that she's not just leaving Alex alone to deal with a sleepy Molly, she goes to find the book she'd been reading yesterday, before they'd left for the gas station and everything had gone to shit. When they'd ran, the plan had been to only bring essentials, but there was no way she was going to go somewhere with no Wi-Fi and no outside connection without at the very least a book._ _

__Well, actually, 12 books. But hey, who's counting?_ _

__She meanders to the TV room and plops down on the couch. She's not sure why, but the couch in here is her absolute favourite. It's soft, and overly stuffed, and Old Lace is always hanging out in here when's she's not trailing Gert's every move. Oh wait, that's why._ _

__Gert loves having her own dinosaur._ _

__Old Lace is lid out next to the couch taking a nap, so she takes a big step over her and plops down on the couch, trying to find her page. It's a good book, one of her favourites. She's had it a long time, since Chase gave it to her when they were 11._ _

__It was her birthday, and she'd had her party at the skating rink in town. Even though it was just the seven of them, her parents had rented out the whole rink so they could have 'the most possible amount of fun that involves knife-shoes and frozen water'. Her mother had hit her father playfully for saying it, but Gert still laughed._ _

__She misses her parents, sometimes, even if she doesn't want to._ _

__The seven of them skated around, racing and playing an admittedly pretty dangerous form of tag. They only stopped and pulled off their skates when they were told the pizza had shown up. Looking back, Gert thinks they probably would have stayed all day if they were allowed._ _

__After they'd eaten, the plan was to head home, but Amy practically begged her to open her gift there instead of at home, so the party went on a little longer. Amy always got what she wanted, when they were young._ _

__She'd opened Amy and Nico's gift first, since Amy had been so excited. It was a big purple teddy bear, and Gert had loved it so_ much _.__

__The only other thing she really remembers from that day is Chase giving her his gift. It wasn't very big, and it had been wrapped oh-so carefully in hunter green sparkly paper. He'd looked so nervous, his smile a little shaky. Later, she'd overheard Mrs. Stein laughing with her parents over how much he'd cared about that present, and something else, too, but their words are lost to time._ _

__She remembers being careful with the wrapping, sliding her messily painted fingernails under the tape and opening it with pinched fingers instead of ripping it with the lack of finesse she'd used with every other gift. She'd wanted to keep the wrapping, and she's pretty sure she did. It's probably still pinned to her corkboard in her room back at the house._ _

__The book,_ Ella Enchanted _, is probably the one thing she can read any time, any where. It's one of the only books she doesn't have to be in the mood to read, and she commends 11 year old Chase for knowing her so well, even then, when they were young enough that their tastes weren't completely developed.__

__She reads for an hour or two, then goes back out to the common room so no one thinks she's avoiding them. With a group as small as theirs, sensitivity is a little bit rampant. One time she was talking to Alex and had apparently taken A Tone so he didn't speak to her directly for twenty four hours._ _

__It's weird having part of the group incapacitated, because it means that they can't do anything until Chase is back on his feet, no plans, no leaving the Hostel. They laze around a bit more, until Molly gets started on lunch, canned soup that she somehow makes taste way better than if anyone else had made it._ _

__She pours out a bowl of soup to bring to Chase, because he needs to eat, and Gert is not going to be the one to let him starve. And she just wants to see him._ _

__Gert cracks open the door, trying to stop it from creaking. She makes sure to step softly, and places the bowl on the side table as she sits on the edge of his bed._ _

__"Chase," Gert says, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Chase, it's time to get up, okay?" She shakes him a little._ _

__His eyes, still closed, scrunch up, and he groans. Looks like someone's up._ _

__His eyes flutter open hitting her with that sickeningly attractive hazel colour. He yawns and attempts to sit up, except he's apparently forgotten the painful injuries he acquired yesterday, so he winces, hard, but he manages when she helps him sit up, a hand on his back and the other still on his shoulder._ _

__".....Thanks, Gert."_ _

__"Hey, no problem, just don't do something that warrants this," she waves her hands around, basically gesturing to his whole body, "again and we're good, okay?" She's trying for a joking tone, but her voice comes out almost achingly fond._ _

__"I....Yeah, definitely. Definitely." he nods, then presses his good hand to his forehead when it turns out to be painful._ _

__"Gert, why am I awake right now? This is like, stupid painful."_ _

__"Because humans need food to survive," she says, handing him the bowl, "and as annoying as you can be sometimes, I'm not going to be the one to let you starve."_ _

__"Oh, so I'm annoying, huh? Am I? Am I annoying?" he says, poking her side lightly. She giggles, scrunching in on herself._ _

__"Stop, stop, holy hell."_ _

__"You're still the only person I've ever met under 65 who says that."_ _

__She sticks her tongue out at him._ _

__She's always really liked talking with Chase. It's always felt like they were on the same wavelength, even before. It seems like, with them, there's never an empty space, never an awkward silence. She's never really had that before, not even with her family. There are some things she's just never wanted to talk to them about, especially since she's not even_ speaking _to her mother and father right now. And Molly, no matter how mature she's grown to be, is still 14. And Gert knows that talking to her about what she thinks about all the damn time-_ what if they get caught, what if their parents never face repercussions, what if they don't survive this _\- would just worry Molly out of her mind. She can talk to Chase about practically anything, though.__

__Well, almost anything. There's that thing involving him, her, and whole lot of emotions she hates dealing with. But she rarely talks to anyone about that, so._ _

__"Hey, what's that?" Chase says after finishing the last sip of his soup. She's never understood why he doesn't just use a fucking spoon like a normal person, but whatever. He places the bowl on the cheap tables they use for nightstands, then reaches out and grabs the book she'd dropped into the frankly huge pocket of her borrowed shirt._ _

__"Oh, it's-"_ _

__"_ Ella Enchanted. _How do you still have this? It's like, half a decade old."__

__"yeah, but I've always liked it. I'm kind of sentimental, I guess." She doesn't know why she says it like she's admitting a secret._ _

__Chase looks down at the book with fond eyes, the kind of look she sees him give her when he thinks she doesn't notice. It sort of drives her a little bit crazy, sometimes. His eyes goes soft, and he gets little lines at the corners of them. He's totally going to get crows feet when they get older. He smoothes his hand over the worn cover, fingers the edge, and Gert wonders what he's thinking._ _

__"Hey," he says hesitantly, "do you think.....do you think you could read some of this for me?"_ _

__She feels her eyebrows go up in surprise. Huh._ _

__"Well, um,"_ _

__"Sorry, that was stupid of me, I don't know why I even-"_ _

__"No, it's okay, I'll totally do it, yeah, sure. Just.........pass me the book."_ _

__He hands it to her. He still looks as if he thinks he's going to get reprimanded for something._ _

__She cracks open the book and thumbs to the first page, and she's about to start reading when Chase stops her._ _

__"Um. You could sit up here. If you want, I mean." She does want. Gert is glad he asked because sitting on the edge of his bed was getting kind of uncomfortable, and also........other reasons. Like how being next to him makes her feel safe, and warm, and right. But of course she's not going to say_ that _.__

__She gets up and plops down next to him. "Thanks, Chase," she says, and gives him a smile that probably came out fonder than it should've._ _

__She cracks open the book again, and starts reading._ _

__"_ That fool of a fairy Lucinda did not intend to lay a curse on me. She meant to bestow a gift. When I cried inconsolably through my first hour of life, my tears were her inspiration. Shaking her head sympathetically at Mother, the fairy touched my nose. 'My gift is obedience. Ella will always be obedient. Now stop crying, child.' _............"__

__She reads and reads, though she's not sure Chase is fully paying attention, from the way his eyes are closed and how he's slid back down so his head is rested against the pillow, but he's got a little smile that means he's still at least half awake, so she's not too worried._ _

__"_ He did laugh, and then he made an announcement. _" she reads, "_ I like you. I'm quite taken with you. _"__

__~~~~~_ _

__Chase loves how she does the voices. How each character has a perfectly curated accent, and how her voice stays soft even though she's putting so much storytelling into the words. He's always thought that there's a difference between reading out loud and storytelling, and Gert has it down. He loves her voice in general, actually. The way she speaks has always seemed so original to him, like dozens of people could be talking in a crowded room and he'd be able to find Gert by ear alone._ _

__The way he feels is getting out of hand, even for him. He really should just tell her._ _

__But not yet._ _

__~~~~~_ _

__His eyes are fully shut now, and she's pretty sure he's asleep. She puts the book back in her pocket and gets up, heading for the door._ _

__"Hey, Gert?"_ _

__She turns back to look at him. "Yeah?"_ _

__"Is that my shirt?"_ _

__"Uh, yeah, it is, I think." It's so fake of her to say that, because she doesn't know for sure, and it might actually be Alex's, and she shouldn't lie. But to be honest, she really just wants to see if that makes him smile because she_ likes _him, okay? She likes him. There. She's tired of referring to her feelings as an 'it'. She's tired of tiptoeing around it even in her own head. It's stupid, and gets her nowhere.__

__Chase does smile, and even with his eyes closed its blinding._ _

__~~~~~_ _

__It's a few days later, and Chase is finally back on his feet again. He's so glad he can get out of bed again. Lying down for so long kind of felt like whenever he'd get a cold and a stuffed up nose to match and automatically lament every day he'd never appreciated being able to breath properly. Standing up had felt sooooooo good._ _

__Not being stuck in bed anymore is great, but he does feel like he's going to miss hanging out exclusively with Gert so often. He says 'so often' as if he'd been laid up for weeks, which he hadn't, but it certainly felt that way. And it's not like they had deep, philosophical conversations or anything. She just........read to him._ _

__But it was so nice. And he feels like they bonded, somehow. Like in between the pages and letters of a children's novel they'd grown, inexplicably, closer. He feels like, maybe, just maybe, he might have a chance._ _

__They still haven't finished the book, though. And damn if he's not invested in the cursed plucky heroine and her princely love interest._ _

__He's pacing, slowly, but still pacing, in the TV room while some movie plays in the background. He doesn't want to sit down, and Old Lace is matching him step for step, which Chase secretly finds kind of adorable. Once you get past the whole 'terrifying dinosaur' thing, Old Lace is just a big, scaly, puppy dog._ _

__"Hey, enjoying hanging out with my dinosaur?" Gert says, just appearing out of nowhere like she knew he was thinking about her. She's leans against the door with a lazy smirk, and Chase feels like he might be melting into a pile of sappy goop._ _

__He knows he's probably doing The Eyes right now, but he doesn't really care that much. The Eyes is what Karolina had labelled what she called his 'pining look' once they'd become friends again and he gave her permission to make fun of him for having a crush on The Biggest Lesbian at Atlas._ _

__"Yeah, actually. Are you sure there isn't more room for a second guardian on those adoption papers?"_ _

__"The adoption papers that I totally have after stealing an illegal dinosaur from my murderer parents? Sure, Chase."_ _

__They smile at each other, in that warm, comfortable way that Chase has never had with anybody before her._ _

__And then Molly bursts in, and he's not going to say she ruined it, because he likes Molly, he does._ _

__But she kind of ruined it._ _

__"hi guys, we're going to play a board game in the common room, we need your help choosing which one to play, come on, come on, come on!" she says all this lightning fast, then runs out of the room._ _

__~~~~~_ _

__"ALEEEEEEX!" Gert yells as she stomps into the common room, Chase close on her heels._ _

__"..............Yes?" Alex says meekly, because he knows what he's Done, and knows he's going to Pay._ _

__"What, pray tell, possessed you," she pauses and walks over to her sister, clapping her hands over Molly's ears, "to give my 14 year old sister a fucking boatload of sugar after being on withdrawal for three months and having a lack of defense against the effects due to our parents nutritional choices?"_ _

__"I'm sorry, I didn't kn-"_ _

__"Bullshit. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. And you know how I know this is bullshit? Because this happened six weeks ago, and you were the one who gave her the damn Three Musketeers. So, what you are going to do, is play crazy eights with her for the next hour until she calms down, okay?"_ _

__"O-okay."_ _

__She takes her hands off Molly's ears and pushes the cards into her sugar crazed sister's hand. Molly then grabs Alex by the arm and drags him (presumably) to the TV room to start up a game._ _

__"Where did he even get candy to give her?" She mutters to Chase as she turns back around to the rest of them. Karolina and Nico are giggling at Chase from the couch. Chase, though, hasn't moved._ _

__He's staring at her, blinking like he can't believe what he's seeing. He's biting his lip, and his cheeks are red as strawberries._ _

__"Looks like someone's hot and bothered," Karolina says._ _

__"Ummm, I just remembered, I've got something to go and um, do. Bye!" His voice cracks on the last word, and he leaves as quickly as possible._ _

__She turns to Karolina and Nico, and says, "Okay,_ what _was that?"__

__"_ That _was the boy you like getting flustered because you were being all succinct and domineering. It was hot, and he was into it." Nico says.__

__"You really think so?" She whispers. This is so stupid. She's literally never like this, sappy over a boy like a badly written self-hating schoolgirl in a teen movie. But.........she trusts her friends enough to be around them like this. That's always been a problem for her, taking down enough walls so people can see her for what she is, which, for all her maturity, is still just a teenage girl._ _

__Karolina pats the seat between herself and Nico, so Gert sits down. Karolina puts a hand on her shoulder, and Gert turns to look at her._ _

__"Do you remember when you were all up in my business about my sexuality? And didn't see one clue of me clearly not wanting to talk about it?"_ _

__"Hey, I apologized for that. Profusely."_ _

__"You did, you did. But my point is, right now? You're being just as oblivious."_ _

__"Am not."_ _

__"Are to."_ _

__"Am not."_ _

__"Are to."_ _

__"Guys!"_ _

__The three of them burst out laughing._ _

__"Okay, but if we can agree on anything," Nico says, "It's that Gert is totally going to wear the pants in that relationship."_ _

__"Uh, excuse you, that is so false. A healthy relationship shouldn't involve either party being in charge, that's not how it works. Therefore, neither of us would wear the pants."_ _

__"In more ways than one, huh?" Nico says._ _

__"_ Shut up! _"__

__~~~~~_ _

__He really should talk to her, but he's just so embarrassed._ _

__Chase doesn't even know if she feels the same way, and he doesn't want to assume, but he royally embarrassed himself and he doesn't know if that counts as a confession._ _

__So he's kind of been avoiding Gert. Not outright, but........he's been trying his best not to be alone with her._ _

__Right now though, he's in the common room looking for that copy of_ Ella Enchanted _. He's got to know how it ends. He's always been like this with books, finishing them way too fast because the story is so intoxicating. And yeah, he's never been a big reader, but when he did read the book was finished in a day- maybe two if it was long. Gert used to make fun of him for it.__

__"What are you looking for?" Speak of the devil._ _

__"Um....." he stalls, pulling his hand out from between the couch cushions. "I'm looking for the book we were reading. I kind of......want to know the ending."_ _

__"Oh, so you were listening." Gert leans against the door, looking a bit like she's thinking,_ ha! I caught you! _".__

__"Of course I was listening." it comes out sincere, maybe a little too intense. Whoops._ _

__".......Oh," she says. Her cheeks go a little red. "Well it's right here." She pulls the book out of her shirt (his shirt) pocket. He can't believe she's wearing it again, does she know she's killing him?_ _

__He takes it, sits down on the couch. It kind of feels a bit wrong to read it himself, Gert had been reading it to him and he got used to it._ _

__"I could read it to you, again. If you wanted."_ _

__~~~~~_ _

__Okay, this is her chance. They're alone, and he's talking to her._ _

__"Yeah, that'd be nice, actually."_ _

__She sits down next to him, and with purpose, takes the book from his hands. She's sitting closer than she needs to, just for the sake of it._ _

__"_ 'Lass,' Char said to me. 'I won't hurt you, no matter what.' He cupped his hand under my chin and tilted my face to his. I wanted to catch his hand and kiss it. As soon as we touched, I knew he recognized me. He brought my slipper out from his cloak. 'It belonged to Ella, and will fit her alone, whether she is a scullery maid or a duchess.' A chair was brought . I wished for normal sized feet. 'That's my slipper,' Hattie said. 'It's been missing for years.' 'Your feet are too big.' Olive blurted. 'Try it,' Char told Hattie. 'I lost it because it kept falling off.' She sat and removed her own slipper. I caught the familiar smell of her . She couldn't wedge her toes in. 'I'm younger than Hattie,' Olive said. 'So my feet are smaller. Probably.' they were bigger. _" she has to pause as Chase laughs. It's one of her favourite sounds, his laugh. Gert can't bring herself to shush him, so she waits him out and starts up again.__

__"_ Now it was my turn. Char knelt, holding the slipper. I extended and he guided it. The slipper fit perfectly, of course. What was I going to do? His face was close to mine. He must have seen my terror. 'You needn't be Ella if you don't want to be,' he said softly. He was so good. 'I'm not,' I said. But in spite of myself, tears streaked down my cheeks. I saw hope spread d across his face. 'That letter was rubbish. A trick.' he glared at Hattie, then turned to me, his look probing."_

_"'Do you love me?' He spoke softly. 'Tell me.'" _Chase is gazing intensely at her face, and she wonders if he's like, alright.__

__"Chase? Are you okay?" She catches his eye, and he seems to make some sort of decision._ _

__He leans in, but stops before he kisses her. Because that's obviously what he's going to do, kiss her. He's got that look on his face, hesitance and excitement and something else she can't place all rolled into one._ _

__She meets him halfway._ _

__It is, objectively, the best kiss she's ever experienced. Slow and soft, because they both know they're not going anywhere. Gert has one hand pressed against his cheek, and the other twisted into his shirt._ _

__~~~~~_ _

__He doesn't know where to put his hands, so he just places them on her waist. Gert throws her legs over his, just to get closer. It's_ so good _. Gert is a fantastic kisser, transcending realms, galaxies, everything. And Jesus, that is so sappy. But he's pretty much making out with the prettiest, coolest girl he knows, so he's allowed to be a bit of a sap.__

__~~~~~_ _

__She's practically on his lap now, and kissing him is so, so good. But she needs to ask him something, so she pulls back with a_ pop! ___

__His lips are red and kind of swollen, and his pupils are so big she can only see a small ring of hazel when she makes eye contact. It's very attractive._ _

__"Okay, okay," she says. "I need to make sure this like, means something to you, or whatever, because I'm so tired of this will they won't they bullshit, so. This mean we're together, right?" He's already nodding, so puts both of his hands on his face and kisses him again._ _

__~~~~~_ _

__Chase loves Gert's hands. They're soft, and warm, and a little calloused. He especially loves how her hands frame his face as she kisses him, like he's something special, something that needs to be protected. Chase has never been kissed like this, sweet and loving and slow, but he finds that he likes it._ _

**Author's Note:**

> this fic is way longer than anything i've written before and tbh i'm kind of proud of myself. the title is kind of from Ella Enchanted. sorry if i spoiled that book for anyone lol. Thanks for reading!


End file.
